NHL Rankings: Let's talk about the Minnesota Wild

NHL Rankings: Let's talk about the Minnesota Wild

Early in the 2011-12 National Hockey League season, the media has keyed in on three stories:

1. The Toronto Maple Leafs quite possibly are not terrible.
2. The Florida Panthers are miraculously good despite basically not existing last season.
3. The Minnesota Wild are leading the Western Conference.

Simply put, the real story here is Minnesota.

“But,” you might say, “the Wild have a much-improved offence featuring Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi and Mikko Koivu and a healthy Pierre-Marc Bouchard.” And you would be right. “And,” you would interject, “Niklas Backstrom looks like an all-star again, and Josh Harding is perhaps one of the top three backups in the league!” Right again! “And the defence … ” — let me stop you right there.

The Minnesota Wild do not have a defence to speak of. And this is why they are the story, more so than the Leafs or Panthers, both of whom have capable, even significant defences.

The Wild have one reliable puck-moving defenceman — Marek Zidlicky — and he is out with a concussion. They traded their best defenceman — Brent Burns — this past summer for a package than included Setoguchi.

Now, their top-scoring blue liner is Jared Spurgeon (2G, 7A), whose name you were probably not aware of until this moment. Next is former Canadian junior team member Marco Scandella, who has three goals and five points. You get the picture.

The only question is whether or not head coach Mike Yeo can get them to keep playing way, way above what they appear to be on paper.